Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:48:03.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Anatomical variation of the extracranial course of the optic nerve in the floor of the sphenoid sinus: first reported case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2013

A Girguis-Bucher*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland
C Schlegel-Wagner
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. Andrea Girguis Bucher, HNO medic, Splügenstrasse 6, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland Fax: +41 44 201 00 56 E-mail: girguis@hno-medic.ch

Abstract

Objective:

We report a unique case of anatomical variation of the extracranial course of the optic nerve running in the floor of the sphenoid sinus.

Method:

Clinical and radiological findings are presented.

Results:

A 39-year-old woman with Turner syndrome presented with severe headache associated with visual disturbances. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mass presumed to be a sella meningioma. Computed tomography of the paranasal sinuses was undertaken to help plan surgical removal via an endoscopic trans-sphenoidal approach; this scan revealed an atypical extracranial course of the optic nerve, running in the floor of the sphenoid sinus.

Type
Clinical Records
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Schoemaker, MJ, Swerdlow, AJ, Higgins, CD, Wright, AF, Jacobs, PA, UK Clinical Cytogenetics Group. Cancer incidence in women with Turner syndrome in Great Britain: a national cohort study. Lancet Oncol 2008;9:239–46CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2Simmen, D, Schuknecht, B. Computerized tomography of paranasal sinuses – a preoperative checklist [in German]. Laryngorhinootologie 1997;76:813CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Heskova, G, Mellova, Y, Holomanova, A, Vybohova, D, Kunertova, L, Marcekova, M et al. Assessment of the relation of the optic nerve to the posterior ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses by computed tomography. Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub 2009;153:149–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4De Lano, MC, Fun, FY, Zinreich, SJ. Relationship of the optic nerve to the posterior paranasal sinuses: a CT anatomic study. Am J Neuroradiol 1996;17:669–75Google Scholar
5Dessi, P, Moulin, G, Chagnaud, C, Cannoni, M. Protrusion of the optic nerve into the ethmoid and sphenoid sinus: prospective study of 150 CT studies. Neuroradiology 1994;36:515–16CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed